Cultivating a New Discipline

Written by Adrian Newington

Getting Off The Rollercoaster

Upon the awakening of a life that has taken a wrong turn, new directions must be taken in order to come back to being happy, loving and peaceful. One of the keys to surviving the seemingly treacherous transition from darkness into light is to develop a new discipline. This is best achieved as a gradual learning process, but requires one to take a hard look at past ways of all aspects of daily activities.
Courage and determination will bring you through, but most important of all is the conviction that you WILL succeed. This is of paramount importance for your growth as any half hearted effort you put into turning your life around may not only prolong your anxiety, but will drain you of valuable energy that could be channelled into shedding light on the many aspects of that wonderful person that you are.

SIMPLICITY IS THE KEY:

First steps to a new discipline are very simple. In fact, you may even be tempted to dismiss these techniques as silly, irrelevant, or perhaps unnecessary. However, start by bringing to the forefront of your thinking the reasons behind the choices and responses, to the many activities and events that are a part your everyday life. Stop the process of automatic reactions and Think before you Do.

Examine the thinking and responses generated from any event, and see if the action you are about to initiate is valid. Ask yourself...

"Why is it that I continue to do certain things in a certain way ?"

Ask yourself again...

"Is this an aspect of my behaviour that has always bugged me?...

Why don't I alter the way I do this thing?...

Why do I persist in this way...

I've often thought of doing this thing differently or more completely!...

What would it require for me to do this thing in the way that I've always wanted?"

Be aware of the things that could make you think in such a way, then listen to your other thoughts as they begin to chatter and make alternatives. This is your Ego at work, and it can sound something like this...

"That's ridiculous...this is to simple."

or perhaps,

"I'll just delay doing this little job."

or even,

"You've been doing O.K. up till now!..

Why Change ?... you're getting by".

Indeed... Getting By. This is hardly akin to living life to its fullest.

When negative thoughts begin to manifest as you enter the process of self examination, you will begin to justify and rationalise your previous behaviour. Feelings of this nature are the desperate attempts of your Ego trying to bring itself back into a position of "Master of the helm", or the seemingly true guiding force of all your actions. But as you go deeper and further into yourself, you shall start to see the illusions you have been living with day by day. By laying out the problems and their responses for an honest assessment, you will see the validity of the choice about to be implemented, and whether or not it is has a motivation from the Truth. These assessments can bring you to understandings of how behaviour is related to patterns. If we want to change or break these patterns, we must first understand them. To gain this knowledge of why we do things will enable great advances in our personal growth as confusion is replaced by clarity.

To highlight this concept, I shall describe some of the things I found myself doing through force of habit and laziness, and how I began to challenge this old way of thinking.

The very first thing I became aware of to help me in promoting my new discipline, was related to what I did with my clothes as I got ready for bed. I would drape my trousers and shirt across a chair or sometimes the end of the bed. As I then awoke to a chance of putting my desire for discipline into action, I began to consider why I've never used coat hangers very much - since keeping my room tidy since clothes looking fresh would be a good thing. It was then that the negative thoughts would come charging in with all sorts of alternatives as to why I should leave them were I placed them.

"Look how neatly you've placed them, they'll be perfectly acceptable in the morning. You'll probably crease them more as you sit in your seat on the train tomorrow so why bother."

Time went by and I persevered with the process of hanging up my clothes; always thinking it was a chore, the one day it hit me, and I said to myself ...

"What is all this fuss over me taking five seconds to employ the use of a coat hanger".

The arguments can be endless, and the energy one puts into these concerns can be incredible.